If you become Senior Market Advisor's 2007 Advisor of the Year, you join a club with only a handful of very prestigious members, including 2006 Advisor of the Year Steve Delott and 2005 award winner Kelly Shaw.
The award and the selection process has evolved from its debut in 2001, when the now defunct Society of Senior Market Professionals named Alan Kifer the charter inductee to its Hall of Fame during the Senior Market Expo. Kifer was joined by Al Filippini in 2002, Jack Keeter in 2003 and Anil Vazirani in 2004 before Shaw won the renamed "Producer of the Year" in 2005 from Senior Market Advisor in cooperation with the National Ethics Bureau.
In 2006, a minor name change to "Advisor of the Year" was made, and Delott, who posted $22 million in 2005 equity-indexed annuities sales, came away with the honor.
Who will be 2007′s Advisor of the Year? That starts with you. If you or an advisor you know deserve to be considered, start the process by submitting a nomination. The official nomination form is available online at www.smaadvisorofyear.com. Complete the entire form, hit "submit" and the nomination is made.
The form will ask about professional designations, years in the industry, 2006 sales totals by category, whether the nominee is fee-based or commission-based, the number of clients and their average age, community involvement and special interests, and 150-200 words on what makes the candidate worthy of consideration. All in all, it is not as difficult or time-consuming as you might think to make a nomination. And think about the upside.